Portuguese Ghana

Portuguese Ghana (1482-1637) was a colony established by Portugal in present-day Ghana on the Ivory Coast. With Fort Elmina as the stronghold, it was conquered by the United Provinces in 1637. By the mid-1600s, the Dutch took over all of the Portuguese forts on the Gold Coast. It was succeeded by Dutch Ghana.

History
Portugal built Fort Elmina (Portuguese for "mine") in 1482 on the Ivory Coast, hoping to take control of the shoreline of the Ivory Coast from which they could trade firearms for gold and slaves. Cacao beans, used to make chocolate, were one of the major exports from Ghana. They built forts to fight other Europeans, not native Africans; they built cannon and placed garrisons to defend against rivals. When the Dutch-Portuguese War began in 1602, the Dutch began to attack Portuguese forts across the world. In 1637 Elmina was captured by the Dutch, and by 1650 all Portuguese forts on the Gold Coast had fallen to the Dutch.